Report Considers Nuclear Industry Whistle-blowers

WASHINGTON — Employees who raise health and safety concerns in the nuclear power industry often face retaliation from their employers and receive little help from Nuclear Regulatory Commission procedures, a report released Thursday said.

The 27-page report, compiled by the inspector general for the commission, said the commission has investigated only a minute fraction of the more than 600 retaliation complaints it has received during the past 4 1/2 years and has imposed penalties on only three nuclear plant operators.

"We found that the NRC process for handling allegations of retaliation does not provide an adequate level of protection for whistle-blowers," David C. Williams, inspector general or the commission, said at a hearing before the Senate Environment subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Regulation. The hearing was called to discuss the issue.

The findings were not news to Paul M. Blanch of West Hartford, who reported safety concerns at Northeast Utilities' Connecticut nuclear power plants to the commission.

Blanch contends that he was harassed and intimidated by NU management after reporting problems and received little support from the commission. He resigned from NU in February after reaching an undisclosed settlement with the company. NU paid a $100,000 fine that the commission imposed in May for creating a "hostile work environment" for Blanch and others who might report safety problems. NU did not contest the fine, but denied the allegations and said it encourages employees to report safety concerns.

Blanch was one of two whistle-blowers brought in Thursday who gave testimony that backed up the report of the inspector general. NU was invited to testify at the hearing but declined, said U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., subcommittee chairman.

"While the NRC and the industry have tried to make the term `whistle-blower' a label of shame, I regard it as a mark of responsibility -- to my profession and to my fellow citizens," Blanch said. "However, when others ask the former engineering

supervisor if they should report concerns to the NRC, he tells them `Shut your mouth, collect your paycheck and pray that somehow the failures will be corrected before it's too late.' "

As a whistle-blower, Blanch said he has endured isolation by his colleagues and the entire industry.

"There is virtually no chance that I will ever work in my chosen field again," he said.

The commission is responsible for regulating the licensing and operation of 112 nuclear power plants, which employ more than 100,000 people.

The report was the result of an inspection started last year by the inspector general into the commission's handling of retaliation compaints raised by whistle-blowers who said they experienced intimidation and harassment by their employers after reporting health and safety concerns.

The inspector general reviewed complaints made during a 4 1/2 -year period. It found that between October 1988 and April 1993, the commission received 609 retaliation complaints, of which the commission investigated 44. Seven resulted in enforcement actions and, of those, three were against nuclear power plant licensees. Of the total complaints, 369 also were filed with the U.S. Department of Labor.

The 16 whistle-blowers interviewed complained to the inspector general that the procedures followed by the commission and the labor department in investigating retaliation complaints were lengthy and failed to protect them.

The commission staff, whistle-blowers and their lawyers interviewed as part of the investigation agreed that the commission's failure to investigate retaliation complaints quickly and aggressively sends a message to management that the commission does not consider retaliation a serious matter.

Ivan Selin, commission chairman. admitted Thursday that his organization's procedures in dealing with retaliation complaints could be better.

"The process for resolving allegations is not as timely as it should be," Selin said at the subcommittee hearing. "We have decent procedures, but the results are not satisfactory."

However, Selin said the nuclear regulation subcommittee should look at the commission's procedures, and should try to think of ways to stop retaliation in the nuclear plants themselves.

"I believe it's as fruitful, if not more fruitful, to concentrate on preventing discrimination in the first place," he said